is it easy to add tweeters into an existing set up of 4 speakers? is it just track off a pair of speakers and let them do their own thing or is it a bit more complicated than that?

i must admit i haven't got a clue

CHAV

i'm not the one with the bling bling motor

iM NOT THE ONE WITH A MOBILE DISCO IN MY CAB!

unfortunately it is a bit more complicated than that.

compromise in speaker design means that it is difficult for one speaker to reproduce the frequencies the human ear is sensitve too hence you have 2 or more drive units.

a tweeter will respond to the higher frequencies, the electical power for the lower frequencies, if applied to it, would result in heat instead of sound.

to overcome this, electronic components, capciators and inductors, are put to not allow the unwanted frequencies to pass though. a good desgin will pass HF to the tweeter andthe LF to the bas/mid range units.

so if you were to connect the tweeter in parallel, it will work umntil the point where the power applied to it is too much. you may find maplins do a circuit for this or else there has to be some on the web.

Are we going a bit deaf in our old age Mr M???

hmmmmm, back to the fire extinguisher thread

You need a "crossover" which is a simple circuit (some dual range speakers have them built onto the back of the main bass speaker, it's just a couple of capacitors) which filters the high frequency sound to the tweeters, and allows the more bassy sound to go to the main speaker.

some info here,here and here

There are 2 types of crossover, active and passive. active is a box, with 12v power supply, crammed full of 'lectronic goodies and is normally adjustable,expensive but does a good job (ideal for "quality" car stereo installations)

passive are the little 2 or 3 component ones that are stuck to the back of a speaker. cheaper, less accurate, but usually plenty enough for a landie installation!

tweeters need to be mounted near ear level, quite close to ears to be heard too.

ah ha, seen some tweeters with inbuilt crossovers in them, so these i could just add to existing speakers and all would come good/not go up in smoke?

Yes I think so, I have seen cheapy speakers with just the components soldered on to the back I think? Hi fi speaker crossovers tend to be on a separate circuit board but it isn't that complicated.

So buying a pair of stereo speakers on ebay and breaking them apart would work?

Snailracer

02 is right, however when you solder a tweeter to an existing more bassy speaker, the electric will take the path of least resistance due to the natural impedances of the two speakers, it's easier for the low frequencies to flow through the big speaker's coil than try to pass through the tweeter, and visa-versa.

In big-power or high quality setups you do need crossovers, in a noisy LR running off a relatively normal stereo it should work fine. Many cheapo speakers don't have crossovers in them.

"ahem" OT don't you just hate it!!!!!!!!!!1

If you want best performance you'll be wanting some active cross-overs, however I don't work at Naim Audio anymore so I can't get any

As has been said above, it's not as easy as throwing it together as the wiggly amps will find the easist route, best keep it simple and not worry about going for complex amps and corss-overs as your only fighting with the background noise of a whinny Series transfer case and a dirty diesel engine

well they r to go in the lr i dont know if i'll be able to hear them though

I found that the "kits" you can buy from various manufacturers are great, all the speakers, amps and crossovers are all there and you just fit them. I bought one for the RRC as the originals were in a terrible state!

Dave